Grasslands Management Certificate Courses

Grasslands Management students are required to take and pass 12 credits in Grasslands Studies Management courses. Students will work with their adviser to develop the most beneficial plan of study for them. Coursework from other institutions may be transferred toward the certificate on a case-by-case basis with approval of the student's adviser. The adviser at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is Dr. John Guretzky, jguretzky2@unl.edu.

The universities in the AG*IDEA Consortium, which offers this Grasslands Management certificate, are SDSU - South Dakota State University; KSU - Kansas State University; Oklahoma State - Stillwater; NDSU - North Dakota State University; and UNL - University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Credit Hrs.

Teaching Institution

Instructor

Offered

AGRO 847 Grassland Fire Ecology

Ecological effects of fire on grassland ecosystems. Insight into the history of fires, the people who use them and why, the parts of a fire, how fires behave in relation to fuel and weather, and the handling and safety of prescribed burns. The chemical characteristics of forage components. The interactions with ruminant physiology and digestion that influence forage feeding value. The laboratory procedures used to evaluate forages for grazing livestock.The chemical characteristics of forage components.

3

SDSU

Dr. Sandy Smart

Fall - Odd Years

AGRO 848 Grassland Monitoring & Assessment

Vegetation sampling theory and plot selection. Quantitative measures used in vegetation analysis, root growth and utilization. Use of similarity index, health and trend for grassland monitoring and assessment. Use of basic statistics and the microcomputer to analyze data sets comparing methods for determining biomass, basal cover, frequency and density.

2

KSU

Dr. Walter Fick

Fall - Even Years

AGRO 851 Grassland Plant Identification

Study of plants that have ecological and/or agricultural importance in the Great Plains. Plant identification, grassland ecosystems and plants' forage value, palatability and utilization by both domestic livestock and wildlife. Cultural and historical uses of grassland.

2

UNL

Cheryl Dunn

Spring

AGRO 843 Ecology of Invasive Species

Ecological principles and their application to invasive species. Discussion of population, community and ecosystem level characteristics affecting a wide variety of invasive plant and animal species. Discussions will include current global consequences and governmental policies/programs designed to limit the spread of invasives.

The course provides an in depth study of the chemical characteristics of forage components and the interactions with ruminant physiology and digestion that influence forage feeding value and the laboratory procedures used to evaluate forages for grazing livestock. Students should have knowledge of the basic principles of chemistry, ruminant nutrition, and plant physiology so that they can develop an understanding of the chemical characteristics of forages and how they affect the value of forages to grazing livestock.

3

UNL

Dr. John Guretzky

Summer - Even Years

AGRO 849 Watershed Management

Study of the management of physical/biological settings and processes along with the human activities on water and watershed considering preventative and restorative strategies in a natural resource rangeland setting.

3

NDSU

Dr. Jack E. Norland

Spring

AGRO 852 Grazing Ecology & Management

This course discusses the ecological principles of domesticated livestock grazing and their application to manage grazing lands. Theoretical and applied models of plant/animals interactions will be presented. Grazing systems and their management of ecosystem services will be presented as balance between production and conservation outcomes.